Only Us
by yellowroses007
Summary: *"The Last Jedi" spoilers are included in this story.* Although Lorelai and Poe were able to fix their personal relationship, issues surface in their work relationship. Separating the two is hard enough, but when it's in the middle of a deadly war with the First Order it becomes necessary in order for them to survive. A sequel to "Here's to Us".
1. Chapter 1

_**~Five Years Ago~**_

 _"So you'll be flying with the Black Squadron," Leia said, wrapping her arm around Lorelai's shoulders as they walked around the Resistance base. "I think you'll like the leader too. He's fantastic."_

 _Lorelai cocked her head back. "And when have you known me to take a liking to anyone who's in charge?"_

 _"You like me."_

 _"True, but you're different."_

 _Leia stopped and turned to face Lorelai. "Do me a favor and at least try to get along with him."_

 _Lorelai hummed as she feigned giving Leia's request a thought. She then let out a dramatic sigh and rolled her eyes. "Okaaaaaaay," she groaned, jokingly. "I guess, I can try."_

 _The older woman smiled before punching the young woman's arm. Lorelai, stepped back, holding her hands up. "Hey!"_

 _"It's a good thing I warned Dameron that you were a bit of a pain in the ass," Leia grumbled._

 _"Warned me about who now?"_

 _Leia turned around and Lorelai's eyes widened at the man standing there. He was only a few inches taller than her with bronze skin and perfectly, tousled black hair. His dark brown eyes were confident and determined. When he looked her way, Lorelai couldn't help but notice his cocky smirk falter a bit and his Adam's apple bobbed. She could feel a knot in her stomach forming._

 _"Commander Dameron, this is Lorelai Vendetto," Leia introduced, gesturing to Lorelai. "This is the young woman I've been telling you so much about."_

 _'And yet you failed to tell me about him,' Lorelai thought to herself._

 _Poe's lips curved into a grin. He pointed to her. "You're Leonard's Vendetto's kid."_

 _Lorelai gave a nod, pursing her lips back. She scolded herself not having seen this coming. "Indeed I am."_

 _"My parents flew with your dad for so long. I can't think of single story my dad has told that doesn't involve Leonard."_

 _She tilted her head to the side and her eyebrows furrowed. "Oh really?"_

 _"Yeah. Did he ever tell you about a Kes Dameron?"_

 _"Yes!" She clapped her hands. "Yes he did!"_

 _Poe's eyes lit up. "That's my dad!"_

 _"You're kidding me!" Lorelai folded her arms across her chest and shook her head. "How have we never met before?"_

 _Poe shrugged. "My dad moved to Yavin 4 when he left the force."_

 _She chuckled. "You don't say? Because that's where my dad and mom went too."_

 _His smile fell and his lips curved so his mouth hung open a jar. He raised an eyebrow and walked closer to her. "So you're from Yavin 4?"_

 _"Born and raised."_

 _He scratched the back of his head. "How have we never met?" He looked to Leia. "Did you know this?"_

 _Leia shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, I've only known her her entire life. But I don't know what that says."_

 _Poe glanced back at Lorelai and smiled. "What squadron did you say you were joining?"_

 _"I didn't," Lorelai laughed half-heartedly. "I'm joining the black squadron."_

 _Poe nodded, grinning at her. "Good. We could use someone like you."_

 _Leia put one hand on Poe's shoulder and the other on Lorelai's shoulder and stood between them. "My work here is done. Poe, show Lorelai around and will the both of you please do me the courtesy of making me not regret this?"_

 _Lorelai chuckled, keeping her eyes on Poe. "There's a distinct possibility."_

* * *

 **~Present Day~**

Poe inched his X-wing in the direction of the Star Destroyer but made sure to keep enough distance to where they weren't able to see him. BB-8 sitting in the back of the X-wing beeped.

 **I have a bad feeling about this.**

Poe turned on a couple switches. "Happy beeps here, buddy, come on. We've pulled crazier stunts than this."

Leia's voice filled his ears. "Just for the record, Commander Dameron, I'm with the droid on this one."

"Thank you for your support, General. Happy beeps."

He turned his pa system on. "This is Commander Poe Dameron of the Republic fleet, I have an urgent communique for General Hugs," he said.

A pause followed until General Hux's voice was heard. "This is General Hux of the First Order. The Republic is no more. Your fleet are Rebel scum and war criminals. Tell your precious princess there will be no terms, there will be no surrender-."

"Hi, I'm holding for General Hux," Poe cut him off, smirking.

Another pause. "This is Hux. You and your friends are doomed. We will wipe your filth from the galaxy."

"Ok. I'll hold."

Another pause. General Hux broke the silence. "Hello?"

"Hello? Yup, I'm still here. Hux? With an 'H'? Skinny guy. Kinda pasty."

He could hear General Hux growl on the other line. "I can hear you. Can you hear me?"

Poe's grin widened as he said, "Look, I can't hold forever. If you reach him, tell him Leia has an urgent message for him...about his mother."

He turned his ship away from the First Order, heading in the direction of the Dreadnought. He turned on his pa system once again, only this time he was reaching someone else.

"Loreali, do you copy?" he asked.

Worry reign over him when she didn't respond. He cursed himself for letting her in on this when another X-wing soared right past him, almost causing him to jump out of his seat. BB-8 squealed.

"For force sake, Lorelai!" he scolded her on his PA system.

Her laughter filled his ears. "I couldn't resist." She let out a whoop as she drew closer toward the Star Destroyer. Her heart raced as the adrenaline rushed through her. "Feels so good to be back!"

The First Order fired shots at her, mistaking her for Poe. She was able to dodge them by leaning her X-wing off to the side. She laughed wildly as she flew around the Star Destroyer. She couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun flying around on her own.

She turned on her pa system to tell Poe when a different voice came out of the receiver – Leia's.

"Who gave you permission to fly in a X-wing because I don't recall having that conversation!" Leia scolded.

"The doctors at medbay in D'Qar did. They gave me some medicine thingy or something. Either way, I'm fine and I got this."

"And you're ok with letting her do this, Commander?" Leia asked, turning the tables to Poe.

"I trust her," Poe defended.

Lorelai grinned. "How'd those words taste coming out of your mouth?"

"I meant them."

It was then Poe flew upward, causing him and BB-8 to jolt a bit. The droid squealed once again.

"That's got a kick!" he exclaimed.

His X-wing came into a close distance with the Dreadnought as he flew around their cannons, destroying them one by one.

Meanwhile, Lorelai continued to dodge the First Order's shots when she noticed the large swarm of TIE fighters behind her. She turned on her pa system.

"Poe, we've got company," she reported as she turned her X-wing around and started firing at them. "How many more cannons you got left?

"I see them," Poe responded. "I got one more left but I think I can handle two jobs at once."

He flew around and found himself flying beside her. "Just like old times," he remarked. "You ready?"

"Let's do it."

They separated before turning around to fire at the TIE fighters. Poe then led a bunch of TIE fighters while BB-8 tried to fix the glitch from earlier. He made his way toward the Dreadnought's final cannon. Leia's voice appeared in his headset.

"Time for you and Lorelai to turn around and disengage," Leia ordered.

"I'm taking out a Dreadnought. These things are free killers. We can't let 'em get away."

But Leia wasn't having it. "Disengage now, Commander. That is an order-."

Poe turned off his received and returned his focus on the final cannon. "Let's go, BB-8. It's now or never!"

Poe flew through the fire and slid the X-wing around, firing at the Dreadnought's final canon as well as a couple TIE fighters behind him. He turned on his pa and connected to Lorelai.

"Did you see that?!" he hollered excitedly. "Did you see that?! All clear!"

"Babe, I love you and I'm so proud of you, but we have a shit ton of TIE left so it's time we called-."

Just then Lorelai felt a jolt. "That son of a bitch did not just hit me," she mumbled.

"Lorelai, you good? You almost got hit there."

"Call the others now. We need back up."

With that, several Resistance pilot flew in their direction and started aiming direct hits at the Dreadnought. Lorelai turned back and followed them, the adrenaline running through her veins. Suddenly, she noticed something coming out of the dreadnought. She turned on her intercom for everyone to hear. "Just wanted to let you all know that the First Order is about to start shooting at us right about now so please be aware of your surroundings."

A male Resistant pilot's voice was heard. "Lorelai, on your right! Move out of the way."

Lorelai sped forward and dodged the shot. She sighed in relief. "Shout out to whoever that was that warned me, by the way."

She flew around the vicinity of Poe's X-Wing and continued shooting at the First Order. It was then she noticed two Resistance ships blowing up, one right after the other. It was then she noticed there was only one bomb fleet left as the others had blown up. She cursed under her breath and reminded herself to stay focused when another Resistance ship blew up, this time right beside her. She dodged in time, receiving a damaged a small chunk of the top part of her X-wing.

"Fuck me!" she exclaimed.

Poe's voice came on to the intercom. "Lorelai, what happened?"

"I got hit. The top half of my right wing is demolished."

"I need you to get out of here now. Right now. I've got this."

She went to protest when Leia's voice came on to intercom. "Lorelai I need you to get out of there. I'm already losing too many fighters as it is and it's becoming a blood bath."

"I'm fine-."

"That's an order. Get back now. I'll try to have some others follow you."

Lorelai shook her head. "Alright," she caved in. She turned the X-Wing around when two other Resistance ships blew up right in front of her. She swallowed hard, trying to avoid getting worked up. She then put her X-Wing into hyper speed and headed toward the Raddus.

When she was far enough away, she saw the last Resistance bomb fleet blow up.

* * *

Lorelai threw off her helmet and wiped away the beads of sweat trickled down her forehead. She closed her eyes for a moment and let out a defeated sigh. When she thought about the day she would return to piloting, watching a handful of her co-pilots dying didn't wasn't exactly a part of that vision. It didn't help that she was still in grieving Han Solo's death either. If anything, what she had witnessed made her question whether or not she was ready to come back.

But then again, she didn't expect to come back so soon.

It had been only a few days after she returned to the Resistance when earlier, news of the First Order bombing the Resistance's base on D'Qar spread like wildfire which led to a sudden evacuation. She had heard about it as she left medbay for her final check up after her concussion. Poe was already rushing over to pull her out of medbay when he first told her. Without even thinking, she ran into her quarters and grabbed the blaster Han had given her and a couple other necessities.

While boarding the Resistance's ship, Poe pulled her aside and asked her if she was able to fly again. She answered "yes" without any hesitation proved to him by successfully flying her X-Wing into the hangar. It was then Poe put her name in for the impromptu mission but kept it a secret. Before they left, Poe made her promise she wouldn't pull any stunts. She promised and she managed to keep it, but now wished she had made him promise the same thing to her.

The little voice in her head said what she was too afraid to say aloud. _Maybe if he had listened to Leia, we wouldn't have lost so many people._

She had to let it go - for her and Poe's sake. Mainly, for Poe's sake. Knowing how he handled guilt, it was on her to be the one to keep it together. Poe valued his team more than any other leader on board. To him, they were family. She also was aware of how furious Leia was at Poe for going against her orders and figured it would be best to try to get to Poe before Leia could.

She climbed out of her X-Wing down the ladder. She handed her helmet to one of the mechanics and thanked him. She unzipped her orange jumpsuit down to her waist, exposing the white tank she wore underneath. Her arms slid out of and she tied the sleeves around her waist. Her eyes scanned the hangar for Poe when she spot his X-Wing parked in the middle of the hangar. Poe was climbing down the ladder as she pushed through the slight crowd to get to him.

By the time Poe turned around, Lorelai was close enough for them to make eye contact. Lorelai slammed into him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Poe wrapped his arms around her waist and nestled his head into the crook of her neck. A few seconds of silence and stillness between them passed before she pulled back to look at him.

"Are you ok?" she asked, her hand holding the side of his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. More importantly, are you?"

"I told you, the medicine sped up my recovery and-look, long story short I'm fine." She paused, hesitating. "How many do you think we lost?"

He sighed. "I don't know. But had we retreated, the First Order would have blown us and this ship up in no time. It had to be done."

Lorelai swallowed hard as the little voice in her head returned. _It didn't really have to be done._

"You do realize Leia's pissed, right?" Lorelai said stepping back. "I mean, she's really, _really_ pissed."

"It'll pass. What's she going to do, fire me?"

"Well, no but-."

Poe cut her off by cradling her face in his hands. "Then nothing." He smiled as he leaned in and gently pressed his lips against hers.

BB-8, still in the back of the X-Wing, beeped excitedly. Poe and Lorelai pulled apart upon hearing the droid.

"Finn…naked…leaking bag?" Poe asked as he turned his head up to the droid.

Lorelai scanned the hangar when she noticed someone standing out in the hallway. It was Finn, now awake and wearing only boxers underneath the flexpoly bacta suit.

She hit Poe's arm excitedly and pointed at Finn. Poe's eyes lit up as the two of them raced toward their friend. Lorelai threw her arms around Finn. "I'm so happy you're awake, bud!"

Finn hugged her tightly and she pulled back to kiss his cheek. She then let go to let Poe hug his friend. Poe then pulled back and his smile fell into a serious expression.

"Let's…uh…we need to get your dressed" Poe stammered as he grabbed Finn's arm. Lorelai grabbed Finn's other arm as they directed him toward the end of the hall. Poe turned to Finn. "You must have a thousand questions."

"Where's Rey?" Finn questioned.

The trio stopped. Poe and Lorelai exchanged looks before Lorelai said, "We'll explain while you're getting dressed, alright?"


	2. Chapter 2

As Poe and Lorelai took Finn into their shared quarters so he could change out of his flexpoly bacta suit, a Resistance officer stopped by to inform Poe and Lorelai that Leia needed to speak with both of them.

Lorelai handed Finn her bag. "Your clothes are in there," she told him. "Get changed and meet us at the bridge. Leia will give you more info on Rey but I can tell you this now, Rey is alive and she's fine."

Finn nodded and as Lorelai went to leave, he said, "I'm sorry about Han."

She turned around and gave him a small smile. "Thank you."

The two exchanged a knowing nod, bookmarking the conversation for another time. Lorelai hurried to Poe who stood waiting for her. Once she caught up to him, the two walked down the hall side by side.

"What do you think she wants to talk to us about?" Poe asked her.

Lorelai pursed her lips. "Let's see, you went against her orders, we didn't tell her I would be flying with you, we lost our bombers in the attack..." She turned to Poe. "Need I go on?"

Poe glared at her. "I did what was right."

She stopped in front of him and pointed a finger at his chest. "You need to drop the attitude."

He raised an eyebrow. "What attitude? I don't have an attitude."

"Poe-."

"I don't have an attitude."

He went to walk past her when she pressed her palm against his chest and pushed him back. She darted her eyes at him. "First of all, do not walk away from me when I am talking to you. Second I am trying to help you out here. You may not be accustomed to these lectures, but I am and I am trying to help you. Look, I love you and I know you were trying to do the right thing, but you went against her orders and as a result of your plan, we lost a lot of pilots and our bombers. Those are people we need right now, our resources. So if you walk in there and act like you've done nothing wrong, it's only going to make matters worse."

Poe sighed in defeat. "Fine."

The two continued walking in silence when the entered the bridge. Leia and Lieutenant Connix were going over something on the monitor table. Leia took note of Lorelai and Poe's presence and excused herself for a moment. The anger in her eyes made Lorelai swallow hard and say silent prayer.

"I don't know where to begin," she said as her eyes met theirs. She eventually turned to Lorelai. "Let's start with you. I don't care what the doctors at medbay told you, I am the one who has the final say as to whether or not you are permitted to go out and fly. If you think you can come back and pull the same stunts you pulled before you ran off, allow me to ensure you that you are wrong. This is your first and only warning. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," Lorelai responded with a nod.

Leia then turned to Poe and glanced at for a moment before she slapped the commander across the face. "You're demoted."

Poe's mouth hung open as Lorelai's eyes went wide.

"What?" Poe questioned sharply.

Leia turned to leave and Poe followed her closely with Lorelai not too far behind. "You can't be serious," Poe went on.

"But I am, Dameron."

"If we retreated, this entire ship would've blown up."

"Your little stunt cost the lives of several Resistance fighters."

Poe moved in front of Leia with Lorelai and BB-8 standing in-between them. "They knew they were risking their lives," he argued. "They knew what they were getting into."

Lorelai had enough. "Alright, you know what?!" She stood in between them. "Everyone calm down for a second. Leia, is demoting your best pilot really a good idea right now?"

"Would you rather I suspend him?" Leia questioned, tilting her head.

Lorelai stared at the woman and blinked. " _Really?_ Was that necessary?"

"I'm serious."

She turned to Poe before looking back to Leia. "So going back to what I saying earlier, are you sure that's a really good idea? I mean, we kind of have the First Order up our asses right now so maybe we can hold off on a punishment until-."

"Lorelai, enough!"

"I shut up now," she said looking down.

Poe threw his hands up. "This is ridiculous."

" Poe, get your head out of your cockpit. There are things that you cannot solve by jumping in an X-wing and blowing something up. You need to learn that."

Leia went to walk off when Poe stopped her. "There were heroes in that mission," he argued.

"Dead heroes," she reminded him. "No leaders."

She walked away, leaving a furious Poe and a stunned and heartbroken Lorelai. Poe walked toward the large window and stared outside it. Lorelai looked over her shoulder when she saw Finn and Leia in the middle of a discussion on the other side of the room. She returned her focus to Poe and walked toward him.

She leaned against the window and put her hand on his shoulders. "Babe, please look at me."

Poe's eyes moved to her. The usual warmth in his dark brown eyes were replaced with fury and hurt as he stared at her blankly. She lowered her hand. _Please keep it together for his sake and yours,_ she reminded herself.

"It's going to be ok," she told him. "It may not seem like it right now, but please believe me when I say you are going to get through it. Yes, it sucks and there's nothing I can do to tell you otherwise, but it's also temporary. In the meantime, you have me and you have BB-8. We're not going anywhere without you. We're here for you. I'm here for you."

The anger and devastation within him was now replaced guilt. Here she was, standing in his corner and defending him to Leia even when she knew just as well as he did that he screwed up. Instead of telling him to suck it up, she took his feelings into consideration.

In short, she had done the opposite of everything he did to her two years ago when he got her suspended for screwing up.

"You don't have to do this," he told her. "You should take this moment to-."

"I know," she interrupted with a nod. "But I'm not going to because I forgave you and because we're past all that way. None of what happened then matters right now."

She took his hand. "I love you, commander or not. I know that's not much but I hope it's worth something."

His hands clutched hers tightly and gave her a smile. "That's all that matters to me."

He let go of her hand and pulled her close to his side. She rested her head on his shoulder as the two gazed at the galaxy from the window. He leaned down and pressed his lips onto the top of her head and stayed there.

Suddenly, Commander D'Acy's voice was heard. "General, you might want to check this out."

Lorelai lifted her head up and eyed Poe before two walked over to where Leia, Finn, and Commander D'Acy where. On the monitor board was a hologram of the Star Destroyer.

"That's Snoke's ship," Poe pointed out.

"I thought we lost them when we went into lightspeed earlier?" Lorelai questioned.

"They tracked us through hyperspace," Leia said in disbelief.

Finn turned to her. "That's impossible."

"Yes. And they've done it."

Finn started pacing. "If we jumped into the lightspeed again they'd find us again and we'd be out fuel."

Next thing they knew the ship jolted, lights bursting out. Lorelai clutched onto the table for support.

"They've got us," Finn said looking around.

Poe shook his head. "Not yet they don't." He turned to Leia. "Permission to hop in an X-Wing and blow something up?"

Leia made a face. "Permission granted."

Lorelai looked at Leia and sighed. "Final say?"

"Permission granted as well."

With that, Poe and Lorelai ran out with BB-8 in front of them. As they ran through the hallway, other Resistance officers were making a run for it. Lights were blowing out, sparks flying. The droid beeped.

"Don't wait for me!" Poe called out to BB-8. "Jump in and fire her up."

BB-8 rolled into the hangar when another explosion behind Lorelai and Poe caused them to fall forward.

"You ok?" Poe asked her as he helped her off her feet.

Lorelai dusted herself off. "Still concussion free for now. Let's go."

Poe entered the hangar and ran to his ship. Lorelai was about to go into the hangar when she tripped fell face forward again.

"I am REALLY getting sick and tired of-."

A loud boom caught her attention as she a wave of fire lunge Poe up in the air, tossing him back onto the ground and sliding him into the hallway beside Lorelai. She ducked down to protect herself from the broken pieces of metal that fell. BB-8 followed suit as the droid hit the floor and curled up into a single ball for protection. As the alarms went off, Lorelai lifted her head off the ground and crawled over to help Poe up. She noticed his eyes looking forward and when she looked in that direction, she too watched the hangar go up in flames along with their X-wings and other Resistance pilots.

"Lorelai! Poe!" Finn called out as he raced toward them from the other side of the hallway. He knelt by Lorelai. "We need to get you both out of here. Come on!"

He got Lorelai up first and then Poe. The three of them and BB-8 made a run for it when they ran into Lieutenant Connix looking out the window in the hallway. They joined her and Lorelai noticed a TIE fighter fly by. "Look!"

The group leaned closed to the window as their eyes followed the fighter. "Where's it going?" Connix asked.

"I can't tell," Poe shook his head. "Kinda hard to see."

"Found it!" Finn exclaimed. He pointed. "Right there above the bridge. It's just standing there."

Lorelai moved her head and watched as the TIE fighter floated above. It was if whoever was flying it was contemplating shooting at the bridge. Then it hit her.

"Is Leia still up there?" she asked Connix.

Connix shrugged. "I'm not sure. She didn't leave when Finn and I left."

Lorelai glanced back at the TIE fighter. Her stomach twisted in knots and her heart stopped beating. _It couldn't be_ , she thought.

"Ben, please don't do this," she mumbled under her breath.

Whether or not it was him, whoever was flying the TIE fighter aimed at the bridge and shot at it. Lorelai couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Her mouth hung open in horror along with the others.

Suddenly, among the smoke, a body floated above.

"Is that…" Finn's voice trailed off.

Lorelai nodded. "It is."

Leia's body floated when suddenly, it started to float back down into the destroyed bridge area.

"What was that?" Poe asked in amazement.

"That," Lorelai began as she watched Leia's body fall, "was the force."


End file.
